Description

“A detective of fiction who has regrettably been forgotten, and whose exploits still make good, fruity reading. . . . We know you will enjoy [them] as much as we did.” —Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Never overlook the trifling and seemingly immaterial . . .

“The Bureau of Abnormal Litigation is called upon as a last resort in peculiar cases. In many instances we refuse to accept a retainer because of the absence of any unique ingredient in the case,” stated Ezra Stackpole Butterworth, eccentric lead council and Bureau founder.

“I’m not a detective. But if there were any cause for action, I would set to work to make out a case.”

“The Bureau of Abnormal Litigation isn’t insane. We take unusual methods, yet methods that are simple. We appeal to the common sense of a court by eschewing tiresome technicalities, and we make use of trivial matters that from their very seeming lack of importance are styled abnormal!”

Discover how such mundane items as an apple pie, an artist’s canvas or a smoking cigar turn the tide to prove a man innocent in such thrilling works as “Retained For the Defense,” “The Death Cup,” “The Testimony of the Dead Man” and the novel “The Crimson Tracks.”

Assembled for the first time are the complete investigations of Ezra Stackpole Butterworth and The Bureau of Abnormal Litigation, comprising eleven short stories and two novel-length works.

With an introduction by Jeremiah Healy, award-nominated author of the John Cuddy mystery series and the Mairead O’Clare legal thriller series.